President of the Republic of Iraq receives UN Resident Coordinator, UN Women Representative following the signing of MoU on cooperation in areas of gender equality and women’s empowerment

Baghdad, Iraq, 17 April 2019 – H.E. President of the Republic of Iraq Mr. Barham Salih received on April 15, 2019 the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Iraq, Ms. Marta Reudas, and UN Women Representative in Iraq Ms. Dina Zorba, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between UN Women and the President’s Office. The MoU provides a framework of cooperation in areas of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Ms. Ruedas, who is also the Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), expressed UN support for efforts to integrate women into the political process as well as other spheres of life, underlining that “strong political interventions” are required at the highest political levels to ensure that first steps are taken to ensure the meaningful representation of qualified women in the political process.

Ms. Zorba said she was encouraged by the President’s keenness to push for the empowerment of women at the political, social and economic levels, including better representation of women in government posts.

Ms. Zorba called for a special quota for women in the executive authority as applied to the legislative authority. Under Iraq’s Constitution, 25 percent of seats in the Council of Representatives are allocated for women.

The UN Women Representative in Iraq also emphasised that more efforts be exerted to empower women economically by supporting various initiatives facilitating women entrepreneurship and offering grants and other types of support.

The President of Iraq’s Adviser for Gender and Civil Society, Ms. Khanim Latif, underlined the importance of the MoU in paving the way for more vital cooperation in various areas with focus on long-term initiatives of economic empowerment of women rather than just on short-term projects.

Earlier, Ms. Latif and Ms. Zorba signed the MoU providing a framework of cooperation in areas of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

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